Tropical Storm Nestor was a large but short-lived and disorganized

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

which caused widespread

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

es and heavy rain in the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

during mid-October 2019. The sixteenth depression and fourteenth named storm of the erratic

2019 Atlantic hurricane season The 2019 Atlantic hurricane season was the fourth consecutive above-average and damaging season dating back to 2016. The season featured eighteen named storms, however, many storms were weak and short-lived, especially towards the end of the ...

, Nestor originated from a broad area of low pressure over the Western

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. It emerged in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

and began to organize slightly, becoming Potential Tropical Cyclone Sixteen due to its threat to the Southeastern United States. It gained sufficient circulation to be designated Tropical Storm Nestor near the Florida Panhandle early on October 18, crawling to the northeast, and then finally transitioning into an

extratropical cyclone Extratropical cyclones, sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones or wave cyclones, are low-pressure areas which, along with the anticyclones of high-pressure areas, drive the weather over much of the Earth. Extratropical cyclones are capable of p ...

due to strong shear from a nearby

upper-level low A cold-core low, also known as an upper level low or cold-core cyclone, is a cyclone aloft which has an associated cold pool of air residing at high altitude within the Earth's troposphere, without a frontal structure. It is a low pressure syste ...

before making

landfall Landfall is the event of a storm moving over land after being over water. More broadly, and in relation to human travel, it refers to 'the first land that is reached or seen at the end of a journey across the sea or through the air, or the fact ...

on the Florida Panhandle on October 19.

Meteorological history

On October 10, the NHC began to monitor for a poorly defined area of low pressure that was forecast to form near Central America. The low developed on October 11 and meandered almost parallel to the coast of

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

for the next few days, before finally crossing over

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

near the Yucatan Peninsula on October 14. The low fully emerged into the

Bay of Campeche The Bay of Campeche (), or Campeche Sound, is a bight in the southern area of the Gulf of Mexico, forming the north side of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. It is surrounded on three sides by the Mexican states of Campeche, Tabasco and Veracruz. The ...

on October 16 after bringing heavy rain to Central America and due to the warm temperatures in the

at the time, convection significantly improved with the system near the center and it was given a medium chance of development. The system became very broad but proceeded to be designated as Potential Tropical Cyclone Sixteen the proceeding day due to its threat to the United States Gulf Coast. The disturbance intensified over the following hours, attaining winds up to , with cloud tops colder than -80° enveloping the center. The disturbance's circulation, however remained elongated, and was still not named. Later that evening on October 18, the circulation improved and became more defined, while the system was finally designated Tropical Storm Nestor. PTC 16L 2019-2019-10-17T14 24Z-to-2019-10-17T22 24Z

PTC 16L 2019-2019-10-17T14 24Z-to-2019-10-17T22 24Z

Nestor began to then accelerate to the northeast aided by a ridge to its northeast, although

wind shear Wind shear (; also written windshear), sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and/or direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere. Atmospheric wind shear is normally described as either vertical ...

generated by a nearby trough almost embedded within the northern side of the cyclone began to give Nestor a lopsided appearance on satellite imagery shortly after its designation. Due to Nestor's broad nature,

gale-force The Beaufort scale ( ) is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale. It was devised in 1805 by Francis Beaufort a Hydrography, hydrographer in the Roy ...

winds were already beginning to be observed near the coast of

Florida Panhandle The Florida panhandle (also known as West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida. It is a Salient (geography), salient roughly long, bordered by Alabama on the west and north, Georgia (U.S. state ...

. The system began to slow down as wind shear generated by the trough caused the storm to weaken as it neared the Florida Panhandle coast. Nestor rapidly lost its tropical characteristics due to interaction with this trough, and was declared to have become an

early on October 19, however still bringing

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

and heavy rains to the coast anyway. Nestor's post-tropical remnant then made

in St. Vincent Island,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

with winds up to 45 mph, becoming further disorganized across the

for the next couple of days. On October 21, Nestor's extratropical remnant was absorbed into another extratropical storm off the coast of the Southeastern United States.

Preparations

With the designation of Potential Tropical Cyclone Sixteen, the

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...

(NWS) issued Tropical Storm Warnings and Watches for the majority of the

coast. Storm Surge Watches were also issued ahead of the storm. Parts of Southern

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

and

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

also received Tropical Storm Warnings, but were removed shortly after the storm's track shifted predominantly towards to the Florida Panhandle.

Tornado watch A tornado watch ( SAME code: TOA) is a statement issued by weather forecasting agencies to advise the public that atmospheric conditions in a given region may lead to the development of tornadoes within (or near) the region over a period of seve ...

es were then issued shortly after the storm became post-tropical for much of Northern Florida and some parts of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Impacts

2019 Lakeland-Kathleen Tornado damage Campbell Rd at Ashley Pointe Dr 2

As Nestor began to approach the coast of the

, the same region that was severely affected by

Hurricane Michael Hurricane Michael was a powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that became the first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the contiguous United States since Andrew in 1992. It was the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane to make ...

the previous year, it led to winds to

and

to take upon the region. Tides 2–4 feet above normal were recorded in several parts of the region as well, causing some minor

coastal flooding Coastal flooding occurs when dry and low-lying land is submerged (flooded) by seawater. The range of a coastal Flood, flooding is a result of the elevation of floodwater that penetrates the inland which is controlled by the topography of the coas ...

. Heavy rain and the surging waves generated by the storm system also caused

flash flooding A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice and snow. Flash flo ...

in parts of the region, with some areas topping with 4 inches of rain. These rains, however, proved to be somewhat beneficial. A

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

in the

was relieved as Nestor and its post-tropical remnant brought rain to the areas, with a meteorologist stating "The rain on the whole was a positive for the entire region – unless you had outdoor plans.". Perhaps the legacy of Nestor, however, was the small tornado outbreak it caused across the

. Although Nestor was not classified as a

anymore at the time of its

, it spawned numerous

supercells A supercell is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone, a deep, persistently rotating updraft. Due to this, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms. Of the four classifications of thunderstorms (sup ...

, which ultimately led to the spawning of several tornadoes. The

(NWS) confirmed six

tornadoes A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

, one reaching

EF2 Elongation factors are a set of proteins that function at the ribosome, during protein synthesis, to facilitate translational elongation from the formation of the first to the last peptide bond of a growing polypeptide. Most common elongation ...

status. One of the tornadoes, only reaching EF0 status, was recorded in

Seminole, Florida Seminole is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tampa Bay area. The population was 19,364 at the 2020 census. History The first white settlement at Seminole was made in the 1840s. This community was named after ...

and damaged a mobile home park. An EF2 tornado which tracked 9 miles also touched down in western Polk County, damaging over 50 homes and other buildings, including a middle school. The tornado also overturned an 18-wheeled vehicle which fell on top of a SUV, but no injuries were reported. The next day, an EF1 tornado formed near

Cape Coral Cape Coral is a city in Lee County, Florida, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico. Founded in 1957, the city's population had grown to 194,016 as of the 2020 census, a 26% increase from 154,309 at the 2010 census, making it the ninth-most p ...

in Lee County damaging several homes. No injuries or deaths were reported from any of the tornadoes. An EF0 landspout tornado was sighted in Micco, but it caused no damage. One other EF0 tornado was confirmed in

Cordele, Georgia Cordele is a city in and the county seat of Crisp County, Georgia. The population was 11,165 at the 2010 census, and 10,220 in 2020. Cordele calls itself the watermelon capital of the world. History 19th century Cordele was incorporated on ...

, downing trees, shifting a barn off it foundation, and ripping part of a metal roof off an industrial building. Another EF0 tornado was confirmed on October 20 on the west side of

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the East Coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as the "Grand Strand” in the northeastern part of the state. Its ...

, snapping and uprooting numerous trees, including fallen pine trees that damaged to two mobile homes. 3 indirect deaths occurred when heavy rains generated by Nestor's extratropical remnant caused a car crash in South Carolina.

References

External links

NHC Advisory Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nestor 2019 Atlantic hurricane season Hurricanes in Florida Atlantic tropical storms October 2019 in the United States Tropical cyclones in 2019

Meteorological history

Preparations

Impacts

See also

References

External links